User:Thaddeus Kastelanski/Drafts

Why do PI at NSC?

Planetary Industry (PI) encompasses planetary resource extraction and processing these raw resources into more advanced products. The amount of resources available for extraction on a planet is influenced by two factors:

1. The parent system's Security Level. Lower system security correlates with greater amounts of resources.
2. Competing resource extraction on the same planet. More players extracting resources from a given planet correlates with lower amounts of resources.

These two factors might lead to the conclusion that PI is not worth the time or effort, in particular if we focus on conducting PI in High Security (High Sec) space. In High Sec, PI profitability is diminished already by the higher security level, even more so in crowded regions of space.

Null Security (Null Sec) space is also likely to have competing resource extraction activity, but the lower security level leads to higher extraction yields overall. If only examining these two factors, then the logical conclusion is that Null Sec is better for profitability.

Moreover, the majority of Customs Offices in Null Sec are owned by player corporations, which typically means much lower tax rates when moving resources or products to or from a planet. In High Sec, there is an unavoidable 5-10% tax on top of the rate set by the owning corporation, depending on the Customs Code Expertise skill. This skill does not affect Player-Owned Customs Office (POCO) rates in Null Sec.

These two factors lead to the myth that PI just isn't worth the hassle. That myth comes from people who try to do PI in HiSec. In HiSec, you begin with planets that already have poor resources due to the high Security Status even before you have the unwashed masses sucking each planet dry for anything and everything, so the profit that you make is often really low. NullSec is different because the planets are rich in resources and the local traffic is very low, meaning we can easily turn a great profit for very little effort. Depending on the markets, very simple P0>P2 extraction planets can generate between 3-5M ISK a day. If you are running 5 planets, that is roughly 15-25M ISK or a fully fit T1 Cruiser, per day, for free.

With that in mind, why would anyone not want to do PI in NullSec if they are already living there? You should know that your return will depend on the markets, how often you micromanage your setup and how efficient your planets are. Your mileage will vary!